The Missing Numbers
by TheVulpineHero1
Summary: 15 more 100 word Black Cat drabbles.
1. Hindsight is 20 20

_-Hindsight is 20/20-_

* * *

><p>Sven knows a thing or two about regretting the past.<p>

It's easy to look at your scars and think how if only you were a little quicker, dodged a little more to the right, you'd still be young and whole.

The future is harder. The future he can only see in snatches, hazy and obscured in the mists of possibility.

But in his life, he's learned one thing: it's not good to look years in the future, or decades into the past.

Only as far ahead as the next bullet, and as far back as the last one that hit.


	2. New Experience

_-New Experience-_

* * *

><p>He wakes to an apartment that's considerably more empty than it was last night. Wallet, keys, credit card. All gone. He shrugs and pulls on his clothes. It's to be expected when you're dating a professional thief.<p>

After coffee and the news (she was kind enough to leave the flat-screen TV), he wanders outside to check out a hunch. Sure enough, he's right. A line of bootprints runs down the side of the building.

Rinslett is not the first woman to make a quiet escape after a night of passion.

But she is the first to go via the drainpipe.


	3. Mirror

_-Mirror-_

* * *

><p>She's a mirror image of him. Well, a <em>short<em> mirror image, but still. They were both warriors when they were children, both potentially so much more dangerous than they had turned out. They were success stories in this wild world. Even her dress and her hair, black and gold, remind him of his gun.

But there are a lot of mirrors in the world, and for every Eve there's another kid, one who didn't get picked up by an old man in a bad hat.

But he's Train Heartnet, the black cat. If anyone can catch his reflection, it's him.


	4. Good Luck Charm

_-Good Luck Charm-_

* * *

><p>It's not an engagement ring, he sniffs. It's a lucky charm. So she stays alive until he sees her again. It's not like he's out for commitment or something crazy like that. Who'd want to get married to a thief, anyway?<p>

She takes it with only a token protest; a ring's a ring, after all. A little band of white gold and diamond, surprisingly tasteful. She likes it, although she doesn't tell him that.

It's the one ring she'll never wear. Firstly, because she's a professional. Pros don't need luck.

Secondly, because it's one ring she _doesn't_ want to lose.


	5. If You Have Tears

_-If You Have Tears (Prepare to shed them now)-_

* * *

><p>Twin blades of golden flax scythe through the air, dodging bullet and briefcase alike, and embed themselves (with a strange, hollow thunk) into the perp's chest.<p>

"Eve," Sven says, but whatever he was going to say after it is lost.

"He shot a child," she says, passively.

Train stays silent. Children and shooting tend to disquiet him a little.

"I did what was necessary," Eve whispers, but a trembling note of anger interrupts the tune of her voice.

"I see," Sven says quietly, and takes off his hat.

Her name is Eve, the sweeper. Her enemies call her The Demon.


	6. Curious

_-Curious-_

* * *

><p>In an idle way, he sort've wants to know how it would've been to have a normal life. What would've happened if he'd been your average spotty teenager instead of the child prodigy of Chronos.<p>

"You would have failed school. You are too lazy," Eve says, looking up for a moment from her book.

"A dropout, for sure," Sven agrees.

"_Whaaaat_? Come on! You guys are no fun!" Train pouts.

They're right, though. He can't even imagine himself being _normal_. A normal him wouldn't be him at all. Just a guy with the same name.

And a few less scars.


	7. Last Time

_-Last Time-_

* * *

><p>The last time she left, she took everything with her. Keys, money, the weird purple nail polish with the ridiculous name she'd bought on Halloween. It was all gone.<p>

She came back the next day (through the window, predictably) for the cookware. He sat, pretending to be asleep. Let her take it.

So, that was it. Rinslett and Jenos. Over. Somehow, he can't quite accept it.

He gets up. He shaves. Does all the things required of a Chronos Number. No one notices. He's alone.

He takes some solace. Last time she left, she came back.

Although, his cookware didn't.


	8. Wagon

_-Wagon-_

* * *

><p>Sven walks into the hotel room and announces, with the utmost gravity, that someone shot his car. Train is interested in this development. Or, rather, interested in getting transportation large enough that the Princess doesn't have to sit in his lap. (He doesn't mind, but she's getting <em>heavy<em> nowadays, although he's not stupid enough to tell her that.)

But then again, he sort've likes the old thing. It's almost an old friend.

Sven solemnly holds up a bullet. It's one of the ones Train uses to practice the ricochet shot.

Train feels suddenly thankful that black cats have nine lives.


	9. Never Know The Difference

_-Never Know The Difference-_

* * *

><p>Train and Eve look around them, then at each other. Their hotel room looks like a bomb hit it.<p>

"It was your fault," she says archly, changing her hair into a dustpan and broom.

"I'm not the one who walked into the room, said 'You're not taking me seriously as your rival', and started choke-slamming me," he replies.

"I'm not the one who slipped laxatives into the coffee."

"I'm not the one who drank it."

Eve steps back. Hidden under the rug is all the mess, and most of the furniture.

"Sven'll never know the difference," Train grins.

Sven does.


	10. Collateral Damage

_-Collateral Damage-_

* * *

><p>Sven groans as he sees a cloud of smoke erupt from the horizon. More collateral damage to come out of their wage slip. Granted, Train genuinely tries to achieve minimum destruction. But 'minimum destruction' and 'entire city centre' should not ever go together.<p>

"Train, what have you done this time?" he moans to himself.

"Er, Sven? Ol' buddy? I'm still standing next to you. Also, _nothing_ you give me is ever _that_ much fun," Train says, pointing at the smoke.

Sven looks at him, shrugs, and pulls out a cigarette.

"Force of habit," he says. "Let's get to the scene."


	11. Boots

_-Boots-_

* * *

><p>She may be a shape-shifting bioweapon with a penchant for hair knives, but she's still a person underneath it all. That was what Train and Sven taught her. So, she did all the things people normally do. Including the rebellious teenager phase.<p>

"Eve?" Sven asked. "Please remove your boots before you come into the house."

A whooshing _schnick, _and his favourite potted plant got an unwanted trimming. Eve, dressed in a spiked leather ensemble she would later regret and jackboots the size of oxygen canisters, smirked.

The great thing about hair knives? _No one_ can tell you what to do.


	12. Words Won't Come

_-Words won't come-_

* * *

><p>She doesn't know what to say to him when they meet, a month after they broke up. Words fail her.<p>

(He hovers, awkwardly manhandling a can of ravioli he was thinking of buying. It's sweet, but it's far from an apology.)

She doesn't know what to say when he asks why she's swapped out her stilettos for sneakers or why she's buying cola instead of champagne.

She doesn't know what to tell him about the strange swell of her stomach.

The words won't come. But he wraps his arm around her shoulders, and she realises they never needed them anyway.


	13. Coat Of Arms

_-Coat Of Arms-_

* * *

><p>"Train," she says, and he prepares for another difficult question. "Why did you get rid of your coat?"<p>

Because blood dries black, he thinks, and that coat's got all the dried blood in the world on it. Because it's no thing for a sweeper to have.

"I didn't need it. Cats usually have fur coats anyway," he jokes, and turns his mind to his stomach.

"I liked it," Eve says quietly. He rolls his eyes. She _would_. She's got a wardrobe the size of an elephant.

That year, she gets him a fur coat for Christmas. He remembers, and laughs.


	14. Bad Moon AU

_-Bad Moon (AU)-_

* * *

><p>He's the sweeper that never stopped sweeping, but nowadays the world just seems like so much shifting dust under his feet. The moment Creed took Saya, he stole all the life out of the world. Seconds later, the Black Cat's bullet stole all the life out of Creed.<p>

He left Chronos, the taste of revenge sour in his mouth and a trail of blood in his wake. Nothing satisfied him. His food became ash on his tongue; the drink, tar. Even cool, fresh milk failed to soothe him.

A bad moon rose, that night. It has not left him since.


	15. The Empty Box

_-The Empty Box-_

* * *

><p>The evils of the world were set loose, and Hope followed behind on velvet paws. With him walked the Prophet, and the Princess. Together, they drove the evils of the world back. Then they disappeared, waiting for the time when they'd be needed again.<p>

That was the legend they learned at school. Van didn't believe it. It was all just a fairy tale.

The little boy shut his book, and padded to the bathroom. With a moment's concentration, his finger became a toothbrush. His hair was long and blonde in the mirror.

Fairy tales. Just truths that no one remembers.


	16. Afterword

_-Afterword-_

* * *

><p>I said I'd do something else for the Black Cat fandom, and I guess this is a close approximation. My original aim was to focus on characters other than Train, but it's been quite a while since I readwatched the series, and I had a lot of trouble getting the characters. I don't really think this is as good as my other work. However, I hope you've gotten a least a little pleasure from it. A failure is just an incitement to try again harder, I suppose.

I added a bunch more Rinslett x Jenos than I normally would, simply because someone asked me to. I hope I've managed to scrath that particular itch.


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